Pages

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

A Blessed Mabon

These are a few of my sacred wares that I 'purchased' (we used silver stones, shells, and little treasures for currency) from our Children's Mabon Faire. This was the best holy-day I've ever had.

It was a gathering of old souls and new friends, us and our spirited children, totalling about 20 of us. A perfect small community. We started out with the faire, a sort of re-enactment of a harvest market. The children made crafts and goods to 'sell', all good enough for a real faire and all indicative of their creative niche. My daughter crocheted Medicine Pouches, enough for every attendee to get one. She also made stick sculptures Andy Goldsworthy style and sold out of every one except our favorite, a sort of Labrys, which perhaps was strategically placed out of sight. My son made killer lemonade which everyone adored and needed on such a perfect warm fall day. The little lemon candle you see in the photo was the side benefit of each person's order, and they later adorned our feast table like a hundred fireflies in a row.

More beautiful wares were made by my friends children, sweet catnip bags for the kitties, amazing mint tea and tussie mussies, beautiful herb sachets for our home, herbal tea bags ready to comfort on a chili fall night, exquisite handmade herbal bath salts and infused oil for the body. Delightful incense, after meal herbal kits, tennis balls with anise for our dog companions, Lego sculptures, and an incredible pirate ship built by our five year old engineer! Did I miss anything? There was such a plethora of creativity and beauty from these children it was a sight to behold.

My dear friend, whom I affectionately call Demeter, blessed us with an incredible meal. She cooked organic, local, free range steak which was absolute heaven and worth extra meal blessings. She made Chili with andouille sausage and a pinch of clove, fresh green salad, tomato and mozzarella salad, curry wild rice, fresh corn on the cob, and I am probably forgetting something because by that time I was totally intoxicated by the richness of the day. I only regret not taking many more photos.

My husband blessed our meal with a beautiful passage from one of our favorite books:

We join with the earth and with each other

To bring new life to the land

To restore the waters

To refresh the air

We join with the earth and with each other

To renew the forests

To care for the plants

To protect the creatures

We join with the earth and with each other

To celebrate the seas

To rejoice in the sunlight

To sing the song of the stars

We join with the earth and with each other

To recreate the human community

To promote justice and peace

To remember our children

We join with the earth and with each other

We join together as many and diverse expressions

of one loving memory: for the healing of the earth

and the renewal of all life.

-U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program

~~~~~~~~~

During supper, our engineer, also a deft storyteller, told us the story of Persephone and the story of Pandora. Couldn't have been better!

And one of our little sprites ...... lost a tooth! She got an extra medicine pouch for that! A tooth pouch!

Then we feasted on homemade apple crisp, ripe off the tree and baked with perfect love by my very own Pop. My Godfather/stepfather who blesses my life in countless ways and with unconditional love.

At the beginning of the day, we drew a child's name from a basket, assigning each child to an Elder for the day, not their own parent. The sacred crafts (a charcoal drawing and the making of dream pillows) were done together, acting as a meaningful activity through which we could better observe our child. Later during ceremony we shared the innate gifts of the children that we observed.

We wished into the wishing gourd that watered our gratitude flowers.

Ceremony was at twilight and even more members of the community showed up, our young adults. My Mother brought her most special smudge wand which she made at the Women's Herbal conference, and blessed all who entered the circle. We called in the directions with fervor around a blazing bonfire. We shared the gifts of the children, spoke on the meanings of the Equinox, drummed, planted our gratitude flowers and wishes, and celebrated.

And of course what I can't capture here in writing, are all the in between moments; of flushed cheeks, hugs, moments of eye contact, and sheer joy that pulsed through each of us on this sacred day of yin and yang meeting in balance. The sun shone warm all day and the moon rose with sharp brightness after ceremony. All hearts glowed with fullness. The children played contentedly.

2 comments:

Lockey
said...

You have captured the day beautifully for all of us. So lovely to be reminded of such a beautiful experience ... I had forgotten about the moon -- so near to being full -- almost surreal with its gift of light by which the children rode their bikes near midnight. A day and night I wish to always keep near.